Brian Wilson Presents: SMiLE (2004)

Brian Wilson Presents: SMiLE

• Often known as the most famous unfinished album in music history, it took 37 years for this album to finally get made. Before it’s highly anticipated release in 1967, it was eventually scrapped by Brian Wilson, and it wasn’t until 2004 when it was finally revisited, rerecorded, and released. That’s one of the reasons I love it so much, because it has such a cool and unique history behind it. I strongly believe that this album has the greatest opening track in music history, and the first minute of it absolutely blows you away. It perfectly encapsulates what you’re about to hear. I’m not gonna go over the track list like I did when I reviewed Pet Sounds, but I will touch on some awesome points. Easily the best part of the album is how it was recorded by using a modular style. Several of the songs reuse bits and pieces of some previous or future songs, so even though it uses the same thing you may have already heard, each song builds on the previous one. Another extremely awesome part of this album is how, essentially, it’s all one song. Each track transitions very smoothly and melodically into the next, and there aren’t any pauses or breaks in between the tracks. One of the last (but definitely not the least) things I wanna mention is how the whole album tells a story. Although some of the lyrics may not make much sense, it tells the story of someone who is traveling from the east coast to Hawaii, all while having his own little adventures and thinking about the someone he loves. Brian enlisted the help of Van Dyke Parks in ‘67 to help write the lyrics, and even after the 37 year break, they both finished the album, and made it one of the greatest albums to ever exist. Unfortunately, it wasn’t recorded with the Beach Boys, but with Brian’s personal band. However, his band did a PHENOMENAL job of singing and projecting insanely complex but beautiful harmonies. The whole album works and fits together perfectly with the awesome vocals. Every single song is so unique, and my favorite tracks are “Heroes and Villains”, “Cabin Essence”, “Song for Children”, “Surf’s Up”, “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow”, and “Good Vibrations”. There’s also a really, really good documentary that I’ve reviewed called Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE that gives a really good behind-the-scenes look of the history, writing, and recording of SMiLE. Overall, this album is super fun to listen to, and along with Pet Sounds, I listen to it almost weekly. I would highly recommend it, and it packs so much entertainment in each song. This album is officially Berry Approved, so go listen to it now!